This invention relates to a lift link for connecting two or more vehicles together so that a helicopter or other device may transport the vehicles through the air.
In the past, vehicles and other equipment have been moved or transported individually by helicopter by the use of slings attached, for example, to both ends of the lifted vehicle. This method provides fast, safe and reliable deployment of vehicular equipment such as High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle's (HMMWV's), tanks and artillery. However, the demands of modern warfare require the rapid deployment of vehicular equipment by helicopter in the most expedient manner possible dictating the necessity of deploying more than one vehicle at a time.
Accordingly, both rigid and flexible means have been utilized to attach two or more vehicles together for lifting by helicopter, the rigid means having the general form of a large, heavy frame and the flexible means having the general form of straps. However, these means have proved unsuccessful, the rigid means being heavy, cumbersome and unable to be carried on the vehicle and the flexible means being unable to maintain the necessary vehicular orientation in flight. Thus, there is a need in the art for providing a device that connects two or more vehicles or other equipment together and maintains the vehicles in a desired orientation when in flight yet is light, easily carried on the vehicle, easy and fast to hook up and is durable and strong. It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a lift link for attaching two or more vehicles together for maintaining the vehicles in a spaced and stable relationship when in flight and that is light, easy to carry on the vehicle, easy and fast to hook up and is durable and strong.